Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Whilst pick pocketing an unsuspecting victim, you may find more than you bargained for.

Whenever a thief pick pocket's someone, roll on this table with percentile dice.

1. 3 SPs

2. False teeth

3. Obscured treasure map

4. Love letter

5. Small silver dagger

6. A set of rusty keys

7. Pocket lint

8. A flint & steel

9. A tent peg

10. A set of strings for a lute

11. A few crushed herbs

12. Small change purse, no gold

13. A needle and thread

14. Small whetstone

15. 3 beans

16. Lyrics and music to a song

17. Small cracked mirror

18. Small finger trap (1d4 damage)

19. A few wooden puzzle pieces

20. Carved pipe

21. Contract for murder

22. A rabbits foot
23. Leather sling
24. 1 six sided dice
25. A religious symbol
26. Small book with poems
27. Brass ring
28. 3 playing cards
29. Bottle of poison
30. A children's toy top
31. Bits of leather straps
32. Small bone statue of an elk
33. Letter of acceptance into a mage's school
34. Blue crystal
35. Arrow head
36. Purple ladies gloves
37. A spell book containing 3 - 1st level spells
38. 10 CPs
39. A tooth from a large cat
38. Leather key chain with no keys
40. A letter from a local lord
41. A jar of mysterious salve
42. A few chicken bones
43. The eye of a monster
44. A note about taxes being overdue
45. Wine cork
46. Small telescope/sextant
47. Nail file
48. Comb
49. Folded piece of cloth with a wolf embroidered on it.
50. Small petrified head
51. Feather from rare bird
52. A couple of small round stones
53. Loose tea in a leather pouch
54. Gold bracelet (30 GPs)
55. Brass lock picks
56. A wool cap
57. A piece of moldy cheese
58. A note regarding a merchant caravan needing guards
59. A four leafed clover
60. A pair of smelly socks with holes in them
61. Small bottle containing yellow liquid
62. The bill of a duck
63. A morbid shopping list (random body parts)
64. A sash with a skull embroidered on it.
65. A book detailing the rise and fall of an old empire
66. A set of glowing large stones
67. A bloodied rag
68. Hair clip
69. A fishing hook and some line
70. Small hand tools
71. A severed finger
72. Necklace with green stone
73. A bag of seeds
75. A small rolled up tapestry depicting a battle scene
76. A small rodent (1d4 damage bite)
77. A vial containing slime that is moving
78. Belt buckle
79. A promissory note for gold
80. A handkerchief
81. A letter detailing a plot to overthrow the local government
82. A gold piece with a hole drilled thru it
83. A recipe for mead
84. A knuckle bone
85. Bits of gold thread (5 SPs)
86. Hand paper fan
87. A potion of healing
88. Small water pouch
89. A pair of rose coloured glasses
90. A torn parchment
91. Dagger +1
92. A ring of invisibility
93. A broken hilt from a sword
94. A map to a city underground
95. Tobacco rolled in a large leaf
96. A scroll containing a 1st level spell
97. A small metal sundial
98. Hand drawn picture of a lonely cave entrance
99. Keys to a local tavern
100. Vial of oil for a lantern

It made my day, and it gives me a bit of hope that on occasion I'm doing things right.

I am still working on the adventure about Slargh. Which is going to be apart of the Crimhuck world. What I intend to do is just put out adventures in crimhuck, and slowly build the world as I go. I have a brief outline of it here.

My only issue at this point with Slargh, is that I created some maps using pyromancer, and and now I'm rethinking them, and considering just drawing them myself. Which I may just do.

Censorship is a funny thing. It depends on a lot of ideals. Some people may get offended by something, whereas another group of people may not. Changing something to avoid censorship is also a funny thing. As a creative person, you don't want to change your ideal and your artistic direction to suit the needs of the many. That being said, more often than not music gets censored on air because of archaic laws. Yet its perfectly fine to have swears on TV after 8 pm? I suppose that its a bit point counter point to who exactly gets offended. Of course most of this all boils down to money.

If a big tv channel runs a show that has a bunch of swears in it, and the general populace takes offence, they may pull it. Of course that also depends on the sponsors of the show. If the sponsors target market is that age demographic that watches the show, well the whole thing twists and turns a bit doesn't it? In the end though, the TV channel and the sponsor's need to decide what is best for them as a whole, because it's not just about the one program, but the entire catalog of shows that the TV channel is airing.

The gist is that Censorship as it has always been is a fine line.

From my personal point of view, and being a publisher as well, I would take a hard look at exactly what the problem was. If at all possible I'd like to have a conversation with the person that I offended. Would there be common ground?

Friday, March 18, 2016

In the next few weeks I will be releasing an adventure on this blog, in parts. The adventure is centered around the Southern Swamp lands in Crimhuck.

Included will be 3 levels of a pyramid dungeon, a small hex map and a bunch of other fun stuff.

Below is the opening premise of the adventure.

*Note: If you plan to run this, don't let your players read anything from now on, as there will obviously be some major spoilers.

The Southern Swamp Lands

South of the city of Yahleui along the coast of Crimhuck are the southern swamp lands. A dangerous place filled with dinosaurs, lizardmen and mucky things that gurgle in the night. Pirates camp along the coasts, making it difficult to land anywhere near the swamp. Deep within the swamps are old ruins, some of which are pyramids. These pyramids are triangular in shape but with squared off tops.

Adventure Premise: The current ruler of the Lizardmen village of Slarh-grash, is a fraud. The swamps are ruled by the Lizard King Gawhdil, although he isn’t actually a lizard, but a reincarnation of a god. Or so the Lizardmen believe. In fact, he’s just very good at talking his way into things. An opposing tribe of lizardmen believe that he is not in fact the messiah, but an imposter. They seek to subvert his rule, and find the lost tomb of the original lizardmen god.

Gawhdil uses potions & strange plants to change his appearance into that of a lizardman. He gained fame when he came back from a raid with a group of lizardmen. Blending in with the tribe, he gained notoriety by killing innocents. His rise to power was slow, but determined. He read up on the ancient past of the Lizardmen tribes, and has taken on the guise of a god named “Slargh”. Some citizens of Slarh-grash believe that Gawhdil is a fraud, specifically the priests of the order of Slargh.

Rumours (1d12)

Rumour has it that some citizens are willing to pay large sums of treasure for dinosaur meat.

The priest believe that Gawhdil is a fraud, from the ancient texts, he does not act the way he is supposed to.

A raid has been planned on a neighbouring lizardmen outpost. Sacrifices are needed to appease the god king.

A local tribes woman has been kidnaped in the night by a mysterious man.

The dinosaurs (or what is left of them) have been mass herding thru the swamps, they have been spotted running north towards the city of Yahleui

Ghosts of old traveller’s have been seen throughout the swamps, they are restless.

An old dungeon trapdoor was located by a traveller, he is willing to sell the location to would be hero’s.

A great sorcerer has appeared in the swamp, he lives by himself, any who trespass on his land are immediately extinguished (in a ball of flames)

Strange creatures have been spotted in the night, there eyes glow in the dark and there heads are oval in shape.

Lights in the skies have been spotted. Elders warn that this is the “end of times”.

A human warlord has started enslaving tribesmen, and hauling them off towards the desert.

A group of human priests have been seen giving aid to villagers and lizardmen alike, they call themselves the “order of happenstance”.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

This is good news! From what I gather this is a test market to see how it goes. As you know I'm a huge fan of AFF, and the new version of the rules. PDF's are quite handy, although the books are equally cool, and ship very quickly!

Tuesday, March 8, 2016

Of leaving the world unwritten. Just the bare bones framework. (this is a continuation of previous discussion on mystara), let's take a trip back.... in time....

I wasn't born exactly around the time I am speaking of, I was born into the 2nd edition of Forgotten Realms, it had evolved, but not as much as it has now.

I am however speaking of Mystara. What I'm thinking about is the day you got "Isle Of Dread", and that is your only resource to create adventures from. The small map you got with the names on it, and the little paragraph descriptions. Where do you go from there?

Here's where I'm going to go.

I'm going to take that map, the map and contents of Thunderrift, and the Norse pantheon and go from there.

I am going to fully pretend like nothing else has been written for the setting. As far as my players are concerned, it all begins and ends with the map and the little write ups.

Eventually I might get into Hollow world, or some of the other adventures that were written around that time. But in all honesty there's enough political silliness going on to keep it going.

As I was saying to +Andy Bartlett all I need is some world ending chaotic crazy person to show up and I can figure out a way to make this work. As well, didn't they put Loki's hit points in deity's and demigods?

In a sense this is a self imposed campaign. I'm taking something and building on it, but not really nodding my head towards things that are accepted as part of the the normal campaign. For example, KOTB might make an appearance. I have an old dragon lance adventure that might make an appearance. I also have to re try out the Over Run Mines somewhere. Side note, I already plan to have the Lost City on the Isle Of Dread. (yup I choked on my beer as well, its going to be entertaining!).

Monday, March 7, 2016

I was just reading "Isle Of Dread" latetly, mostly because of all the awesome that is going on over at http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.ca/. There is a small section within the module that basically gives a little break down of the Known World (Mystara). I'm not entirely sure if this is the first instance of Mystara, or a campaign world within D&D. I have to admit I quite like it! Through out this discovery process of OSR I keep finding these awesome things, that I didn't really now about before, or had just omitted at the time.

I grew up with 2nd edition, and it was very focused on Forgotten Realms. Yes I saw the ad's for Mystara at the time, but I wasn't buying these books for myself. As well I hadn't really formed an opinion.

For me, that little break down in Isle of dread is enough to go on, and get my creative juices flowing. Without all the extra awesome history you can find at - http://www.pandius.com/

There is actually a crazy amount of resources out there for Mystara. It's a world that keeps evolving and that is totally cool. But as I said, you can strip it back to what is in Isle of dread, and write if your way from there if you like.

Saturday, March 5, 2016

Last night I was thinking about the "Never-ending Story", and the big bad guy, "the nothing". The nothing is not really an entity but a thought process. Human's have started to not believe in fantasy, therefore the nothing was created from that to destroy the fantasy world. Because without human's thinking about fantasy, the world does not exist.

Yes for a super cheezy 80's movie, there's some deep thoughts that go along with it.

As far as using the "Nothing" as a bad guy, or the main guy in a campaign. I like it. I've been trying to think of a way of not using typical demons, or really old grumpy dragons as the overseer of the vileness in the world. It always seems that the PC's are working their way towards a great evil like the above. But to have something in the world that is truly evil, that is trying to destroy the world, yet it is intangible. Well that'll just make the PC's head spin won't it.

Now they have to go out and do good things and get people to believe in the world again. Of course that's easier said than done isn't it.

The nothing, or atleast the concept of the nothing seem's like a great idea. The thing about a campaign like that though, is that it will blur the line between the real world and the RPG that you are playing. I've kept going back to the idea of playing in a world based on "Magic Kingdom for sale" by Terry brooks, and I may still do that at some point. Another book that blurs the lines.

There are certain things I like about the Neverending story world, and there's a lot of things I don't. So I doubt that I would use it straight up as a place to play in. However, there's those little nuggets that you can use for inspiration.

Here's the nothing scene by the way, it'll give you a bit of context to what I'm talking about.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

I believe there is a long tradition of "beer & pretzels" type D&D games, and it appears these guys are working directly towards that.

That being said, more often than not our games involve a bit of imbibing. Last year we managed to play a bit of D&D on the deck in the summer which was a helluva a lot of fun. And a lot better scenery than sitting in a dark basement in -40 C. I'm looking forward playing outside again whenever it gets a bit nicer out.

It's mildly close to "deck beers" weather. Although today is back to "Eeek! why do I live here".

I think the tradition is really about the one off dungeon. I've often used my module ideas for this. If there's not enough players, or if it just comes up "Hey we should play some D&D". Excellent! Save VS Tequila (which is also a long standing tradition in our house, specifically on fridays. #tequilafriday).

While playing stone cold sober is a ton of fun! I do prefer to have a few drinks whilst DMing. It's not about being "more creative", as I'm fully aware that if anything it will degrade your performance as a DM. It's more about getting together with friends and having some fun. As anything though there is a fine line.

What are your favorite beer & pretzel games?

I think my next one will be a one shot Barbarians of lemuria game. Probably using the stock character's in the book and one of the adventures.

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

I am a goof ball. Although you already knew that didn't you? Of course you did! I've often waxed about doing a one off hitchhikers guide to the galaxy adventure, and I still may do it. But an increasingly silly thought crossed my mind the other day. Take White Star, and create an adventure revolving around Space Balls The Movie (tm). I haven't been able to pick up white star yet, due to lack of funds, and I'm not entirely sure if it's something my players would want to do. I have a few star wars, sci fi nerds in the group. But we are very mired in traditional fantasy at this point. Anyways, I digress.

Take Space Balls the movie (tm), but set it in the Clone Wars time line. So Darth Helmut is a good guy! And maybe there's appearances (of course there are appearances this is that galaxy!) of all of the other characters within the movie. One of your players could be BARF! a Mog (his own best friend), and of course the princess (vespa) from druidia hasn't been born yet, but her Mother is involved. She's Darth Helmuts, uncles second cousin's neighbor. So basically no relation at all! Throw in Dot Matrix, and you'll have a blast.

You can even make a silly reference about "No Sir I didn't see you playing with your toys again", when using minis for combat.

Honestly the sillier the better.

Here's an adventure ideas list to get you started.

1. During the Drone Wars, a lot of robot's have been malfunctioning. The tide of the war has changed. Find out the reason behind the poor manufacturing.

2. Darth Helmut has been sent to the planet of Druida to discuss negotiate the trade hostilities between two factions.

3. Help Lone Star make the Krusty Run in under 95 par secs. He needs a part for the ship.

4. Space Pirates! Have captured Barf's relatives.

5. Dot Matrix's Sister Calc-ulater has been abducted. She maybe be sold off as spare parts to a large printer company.

6. The resistance is building the giant vacuum lady (mk 1.0) it needs to be destroyed.

7. A random black hole has occurred in space, sending a whole cast of parody Star Trek characters into the mix.

8. Pizza The Hut's cousin Dunkin The Donut has been caught illegally gambling on nutter butter races. He has been detained by the resistance. Pizza is willing to pay high sums of space bucks for his safe return.

9. President Skroob, (while not actually president yet), has decided in his infinite wisdom to run for president. Yogurt comes to you with a premonition of darker times. He wants you to take out Skroob before he gets elected.